Commercially available
DMEM solutions (Invitrogen,
Cat. No. 21063-029)
may be used as an alternative to using SBF (synthetic/simulated body fluid)
solutions.

aHepes-buffered,

phenol red-free,

pyruvate-free,

glucose-, amino acids- and vitamins-containing

commercial DMEM solution

(which was replenished at every 48 h with an unused
solution) was shown to quickly (from 48 h to 1 week) convert brushite (CaHPO4×2H2O)
powders, soaked in the above-specified DMEM solutions, at the human body
temperature of 36.5 °C, into octacalcium phosphate (Ca8(HPO4)2(PO4)4×5H2O), which is regarded by some researchers to be a
precursor phase to “the biological apatites of human
hard tissues.”

Just a year before our study, the below study also
used a commercial DMEM solution, but quite different in its composition, to
test the apatite-forming ability of Ti6Al4V substrates immersed in those
solutions at 37°C. The commercial DMEM solution used in the below study was

notHepes-buffered,

contained phenol red,

containedpyruvate,

contained glucose, amino acids, and vitamins

and this solution was not replenished (in contrast to the constant circulation
and replenishment of blood in the human body)